The man who introduced me at the meeting and who has ridden my Enertia said this about the bike:

“I can answer the most important questions. You don’t need to ask Harry.

Is it a ‘real’ motorcycle? Yes.

More importantly, is it fun? Yes.”

With that understated but poignant introduction, I began talking about one of my favorite subjects.

It started innocently enough, with me turning on the bike.

“It’s on.” Noiseless. Odorless. The only indication of the mayhem yet to come was the row of blinking green lights at the top of the dash.

I did my usual schtick, telling the story of how I came to be the owner of this fine bike, and how it was able to easily handle my daily commute without having to recharge during my workday.

And then the questions began:

Q. What’s the range? – 40 miles.

Q. What’s the top speed? – 60+ mph (but I mentioned the 2011 models, of course, especially the Empulse with its 100mph top end)

Q. How much does it cost? $7995 (but I had to mention the various incentives available, depending on what state you lived in)

The questions came fast and steady, without anything I hadn’t heard before.

After the meeting, however, most of the guys stuck around and talked to me about the bike. Finally, one guy asked:

“Can it do a burn out?”

I’d never been asked that question before. Here’s the answer:

Yes, apparently it does.

No, that's not a watermark above the motor cover.

Even though I’d been a member of this club for a few months, they never seemed to know what to do with me. After the hooning event, however, there was a bit of a transformation. My status went from “suspicious outsider with alien technology” to “brother . . . from another mother.” At least, that’s what it felt like. Several guys helped me load the bike back up on my hitch carrier (The Brammo Range Extender 1000) and plans were made for test rides in warmer weather.

“Listen to that,” one of them said as I rode down the alley to get the bike into loading position.

The “watermark” comment was about the decal above the motor cover. It’s a long story/inside joke kind of thing, but if you happen to read hellforleathermagazine.com you’ll learn how they hide that sheep skull logo in many of their photos — which, subsequently get appropriated (without attribution) by other websites.